Madar (Nouakchott) - Mauritania's Ministry of Vocational Training, Crafts and Trades, in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, held a side event at the Mauritania pavilion of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkey, on Thursday, 12 November 2026, according to the Cridem website.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Messouda Baham, and was held under the theme "Green hydrogen and the jobs of tomorrow: preparing Mauritanian skills for a job-creating energy transition", according to the same source.
Moderated by a senior official of the Ministry of Vocational Training who serves as its climate focal point, the panel brought together the director general for petroleum and low-carbon hydrogen at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, the ministry's director for skills, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, crafts and the social economy, an academic from the University of Nouakchott, a renewable energy researcher and entrepreneur, and a member of a UN advisory group on the environment and climate justice.
Discussions covered the prospects for developing green hydrogen in Mauritania, skills needs, training for new professions, environmental protection, and economic opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, young people and women.
Participants highlighted a key challenge, according to the same source: turning Mauritania's energy potential into a lever for economic development, creating skilled jobs and strengthening national skills while protecting the environment.
The event follows President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani's address to the leaders' summit in Antalya, in which he called for climate finance that is "easy to access". The energy ministry launched a regulatory and operational framework for the hydrogen sector in May.
